Flames
by Red-tiki
Summary: Mello has had enough of Near beating him and has decided to take action. MelloxNear
1. Flames

I watched as Roger put up the gold plate that read "Top Student –Near" and all the students gathered around to see. I was grinding my teeth and my eye twitched. That was it, I had enough of Near, it's time to do something about it.

I stomped down the hallway into Matt and I's room, slamming the door behind me. I paced back and forth around the room, as I was too restless to sit down.

"Hey Mello, What's up?" Matt casually said in a calm voice, while his thumbs were too busy pressing buttons and his eyes behind the goggles concentrated on his game console.

I stopped pacing and stared at Matt who was sitting on the bed, my eye twitched again. "What's up? What's up! Have you seen what's happening outside? No, of course you haven't…because you're too busy playing friggin games all day!"

"Woah, don't take out your anger on me, what happened?" He snickered while he spoke, as if he didn't take me seriously.

I grabbed the closest thing next to me, which happened to be a tissue box, and threw it at Matt. "Near happened, that's what!"

Without looking up, the red head effortlessly ducked as the tissue box flew towards him. "What did he beat you at now?" Matt jokingly asked.

I grabbed the next two things closest, which was a pillow and Matt's game cover, I flung those at Matt too.

Again Matt easily dodged the pillow but the game cover hit him straight in the face, he dropped his game console as he lost balance on the bed and fell onto the floor with a thud. I wasn't able to see Matt until his head popped up as he used the bed to help lift himself up with one hand and the other was cupping his forehead.

"What…was that..for? Panting as he stood up.

I grabbed the next thing closest to me, and as I was about to throw it I noticed it was a bar of chocolate and decided not to fling it. While unwrapping it, I spoke to Matt. "I'm just angry okay! I'm sick of Near always getting the spotlight, he doesn't deserve it!"

Matt flung his hands in the air. "Well don't take it out on me, do something about it!" He then look down at his hand which was marked with blood. "I'm bleeding! Mello, I'm bleeding!"

I rolled my eyes at Matt while enjoying a mouthful of delicious chocolate . "Grow up Matt, it's just a scratch. You know what, I'm gonna do something about Near, here's what we're gonna do…"

I told Matt the plan, he had mixed feelings about it then finally gave me an answer. "I don't think we should do that Mello, it's too harsh on Near."

"You're going to take…Nears side…over me?" I began to grind my teeth again.

Matt waved his two hands in the air, while shaking his head sideways. "N-no! I-I'm not taking his side, I just think the plan won't work…"

"C'mon Matt, this is the last time we'll do something like this, I promise"

Matts hands dropped as he sighed "…Fine, but if it gets out of control we stop. Deal?"

I gave a sinister- like smile "Deal. This is going to be fun."

"…Yay." I detected a hint of sarcasm in Matt's voice.

Later that day, I knew Near would be on his way to his room to start one of his puzzles after visiting the common room. I waited in the bathroom in Nears room, he leaves his door open since no one visits him anyway, suddenly the door opened. I watched as Near walked towards the shelves where the puzzle boxes _should _be, there was only one left, which happened to be his favourite one. I began creeping towards him. Near noticed something was suspicious, but reached up for the final puzzle box. As he turned around to place it down I snatched it off him.

"Mello…give it back." He gave slight effort into his sentence.

"How about, No." I began to walk off with the box in my hands, Near was slowly following behind me, the plan was in action.

"…Mello…Mello!" Near kept calling as I fastened my pace down the hallway, as if he thinks I'm going to answer to _him._

We finally reached our destination, I opened the backdoor to outside, and closed it, knowing Near will follow. There was a giant pile of Nears puzzles, Matt was standing next to it, he had a Mario and Luigi band aid on his head.

"Mello…I'm having second thoughts on the plan…"

"Well it's too late to back out now, Near's coming." I said with a smirk on my face. "And take that band aid off! You look like a loser"

"No! I like these band aids…" Matt knew what he had to do next, he began pouring the liquid over the puzzles.

Near opened the door, and saw the pile of his puzzles, Matt standing there with his lighter in his hands, then looked at me holding onto his favourite puzzle. I couldn't help but to keep grinning.

"Wh-what are you doing?" It was obvious he was trying to stay calm and collected, but those emotions were bottling up inside.

"What? So now you can't figure it out?" I turned my head around to look at Matt who stood there with a nervous expression on his face. "Matt, do it now."

"I-I'm not sure I can, it doesn't seem rig-" I took the lighter from Matt and lit up the pile of puzzles. The fire grew rapidly, Matt and I stood away from it as it began to flicker. I turned my head over to look at Near who stood there, eyes wide and mouth open. It almost looked like he was going to cry, his eyes were watery, well from where I could see it looked like it. The plan wasn't over, I looked down at the puzzle box in my hand.

Near saw me look down and ran towards me.

"M-Mello! Please don't!" He grabbed onto my arm, trying to pull my arms away from the fire. Matt was also trying to get me away from the fire. "Mello, c'mon, this is out of control, you said once it's out of control we would stop!"

"It's…not…finished yet." I was trying to resist Matt and Nears strength against me, as I took slow steps to get close enough to the fire.

"Please Mello! You don't understand!" Near was looking up to me, really pleading me to stop. For a second I considered actually stopping the plan but then Matt tugged on my hand, which made the box slip from it and flew into the fire. We all froze.

"Shit…" Matt said while dropping his hands.

The three of us stared at the burning puzzle box, as it crumbled to ashes.

I turned to look at Near, who wasn't moving, he just gazed into the crackling fire, the expression on his face made me regret what I did.

"…Near.." I moved my hand towards as if to comfort him in some way. Before I could reach he ran for the door, slamming it behind him.

I turned to look at Matt, who was lighting his cigarette with the flames. "Well…that could have gone better."


	2. Apology

Matt and I awkwardly sat in our room, there was a lot of tension between us. Matt lay on the bed, with his legs touching the ground and his arms covering his eyes. I sat on the swivel chair near the desk, facing Matt. He hadn't spoken to me since what happened in the afternoon. Roger told us that he was disappointed in us and yada yada yada…those long speeches you see in movies. Our punishment? Matt's game console and lighter was taken away, and my…chocolate, we also had to write an apology letter to Near, if we didn't we couldn't leave the room, except for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in the cafeteria. If I didn't say anything to Matt now, we wouldn't speak for the rest of the night, which would lead to a restless night.

"…Matt?"

"Mello, this is all your fault." He replied instantly as if he waited until I spoke to say it.

"It's not _all_ my fault…Near's always beat-"

Matt sat up hastily "Yes, Near's always beating you, I get it! But it doesn't mean you had to go to the extent of crushing him! Do you think what you did made you a winner?" Matt hardly ever got angry, no matter what I did. It felt strange seeing him act this way. I guess without Matt's eyes on a game or his lips on a cigarette, he could get so cranky.

I didn't want to reply but he stared and waited for my answer, his eyes were burning through my head, it made me uneasy.

I looked down at the ground, I couldn't look at Matt. "…no…I feel horrible about what happened."

"Good-"

I lifted my head back up at Matt.

He smiled. "-then you can write the apology letter." With that Matt lay back onto the bed.

It was easy repairing our friendship, it wasn't so easy figuring out what to write on the letter. I spoke while I wrote.

"Dear…Near." I paused. That already sounded like a corny letter, I can't rhyme his name in the first line. I tried a few more times, good, I had a few sentences. I couldn't seem to get my words on the lined paper, I didn't know writing an apology letter would be so hard. As time passed Matt walked around the room, he really had nothing to do, until he fell asleep on his bed. I was almost done.

"Sincerely, Mello and Matt…done…" With that I sighed and stretched my arms, I had been writing that letter for 3 hours. I swivelled the chair around and saw Matt lying with his head hanging off the end of the bed with his mouth wide open, his left arm and leg dangled off the bed while his right arm was squished under his body, and his right leg was tucked under the pillow. He certainly looked comfortable.

I crept up to him, unsure whether to wake him up from his peaceful sleep or leave him and go to the cafeteria for dinner.

"M-Matt?" I whispered close enough that if he was awake he would hear, unfortunately not while he slept. I poked his face but all he did was frown his brows and wiggle his nose.

"Matt…Maaatt." Okay obviously this wasn't working, he's going to hate me for this.

"**MATT!" **That time he heard me, so startled his eyes flew open and he shrieked while his arms and legs flew in the air.

"What!" Matt sat up while rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Do you want to go to the cafeteria for dinner?"

"No, I'm catching up on my sleep…" With that, Matt lay back into his position and closed his eyes.

"I also finished the letter" I said in a proud voice.

"Good job…you can...give it to him…after dinner…" He already was beginning to drowse off.

"Okay" I gave Matt a smile, even though he couldn't see it, and put the letter in my pocket.

"While you're there…you can tell him…how much you care about him…"

"What!" I quickly turned my head at Matt, now he wouldn't answer, he pretended to sleep.

I left the room and walked down the hall to the cafeteria. On the way there some of the other orphans congratulated me for cracking Near, others glared me off, and insulted me. It was hard ignoring them, I didn't want to fight back anymore. I glanced at the food in the cafeteria and decided not to eat, if only I was allowed my chocolate, I'd eat it any day over this food.

Hmm…I wonder if Near is around here, I scanned the room looking for an albino by himself, I guess he was still in his room... I really did feel sorry for him now, the way he stared into that fire made my heart drop. I began making my way to Nears room, I was actually nervous, my stomach hurt and my hands were getting sweaty. Was I just going to give him the letter or talk to him?

I reached my destination. I stood at the door for a while, figuring out what to do. When I got close enough to the door I heard soft sobs…Near was crying. What was I going to do now? Without another thought I quietly knocked on the open door and slowly peeked my head in.

"N-Near..?."

The albino didn't say anything, didn't look up or move, he kept sobbing on his bed, one leg curled up to his chest while the other dangled off the bed. I gradually walked towards him, unsure of what to do, I now stood in front. I reached out towards him but hesitated, last time I tried to comfort him he ran inside, but I guess he has nowhere to run now. I gently put my hand on his head and stroked through his hair. He began to look up at me, his eyes were bloodshot and his face was damp, I tried to give a comforting smile to him.

"Mello…" he didn't give much emotion but his voice was quiet and soft. I sat down next to him and wrapped my arm around his shoulder.

"I-I'm… sorry Near." I had so much going on in my head, but I couldn't seem to say anything.

"You know…my favourite puzzle was given from my mother..." He voice drifted off, he wasn't trying to hold back his tears anymore.

I didn't know what to say, do I ask about his mum? Or will that bring a bad memory up? I couldn't believe what was happening to me, it wasn't like me. I was speechless.

"…Mello?" Near lift his other leg onto the bed curling them up to the side, now he was facing me.

"Yes, Near?"

"What was your mother like?"

"My…mother? Umm, well she was pretty good I guess, I didn't see her much though..." I felt awkward now, I only talked about my life before the orphanage to Matt, but when we talked it was different.

"What about your dad?"

"Well, my dad was always with my mum, they went on heaps of vacations, while I stayed with the nanny. I guess we were in the…upper class. I always had to do what I was told, play by the rules."

"H-How did you become…an orphan? Near wasn't sure to ask or not, maybe he thought I'd go all sensitive like he was at the moment.

"When they went on vacations they were dealing drugs, that's why we were so rich, and one day when they came home from their trip, the police tracked them down and arrested them at the house. I escaped from them, and found myself outside wammy's, roger saw me and offered me a piece of chocolate, after that they took me in."

Near watched me, he was waiting for me to break down and cry. I didn't feel the need to, I had done my crying a long time ago and since I didn't see them often I didn't have a strong connection with them. His large dark eyes were still looking at mine, I couldn't keep my gaze and felt a heat on my cheeks, I knew I was blushing so I turned my head away quickly. I now looked down frontwards, my blond hair covered my face from Near.

After a while, Near realised that I wasn't going to start crying, and was no longer waiting.

"My mother…she was beautiful."

I lifted my head back up towards Near, I had to engage while he told his story, I had some respect for the boy.

"My mother and I always used to do puzzles together, I had so much fun with her. For Christmas she gave me that puzzle, my favourite one." Near used emphasis on favourite, I knew which one he was talking about.

"On Christmas night my Mother and I had almost finished completing the puzzle, but my father had come home." After mentioning his father, his tone had changed.

"My father was an alcoholic and was very drunk on my birthday, he accused my mother of many things, and used so many unforgiving words, he blamed me for the way we lived. We weren't poor, but we were just managing. My father raised a gun to my head, but my mother carried me into the bathroom and locked me in. I watched through the keyhole as my mother struggled to keep him away, as a result she was shot."

The way he was right now, he was letting his tears run down, and wasn't hiding anything to himself. At this moment I felt so close to Near, even though I wasn't saying anything, I felt that he trusted me enough to tell me about his past.

"After shooting my mother, he kept trying to break down the bathroom door, at this point I was terrified, I had just seen my mother's blood oozing from her still body. I didn't know what to do, I stood and watched as the door fell down, and my father held the gun pointed at me. I closed my eyes, there was a bang, but I didn't feel pain. Once I opened them, I was covered in blood, my father's blood. After my father collapsed onto the floor, the police behind him were revealed. There were police scanning the house while others tried comforting me, then I met Roger, he offered to take me in, I accepted as I had nowhere else to go. "

I had never really had to comfort someone before, so I was unsure of what to do. Was I supposed to say something now? I felt so useless.

"Near, I am truly sorry about what happened today, and I did regret it. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"No it's okay, I just like talking to you." He tried to smile a little bit, to show me that he was fine, but I could still see sadness in his eyes.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes, it's fine. Just promise me that we will still talk to after this."

"Yeah…of course." I smiled then lay back on the bed. I felt relieved but still guilty, I knew he was still upset but he wouldn't say. Near didn't lie down, but observed me. Those eyes made me nervous, I felt my cheeks go hot again. He knew I was blushing, nevertheless he didn't say anything. I wasn't sure what Near thought of me, I wasn't even sure how I felt about him. We weren't friends…but we weren't enemies anymore.

Near and I talked for a long time about many things, although I still didn't know how to react to a few things, I didn't feel awkward anymore. It had been more than 5 hours before I started getting drowsy. I didn't usually have such long and endless conversations with people…not even Matt. Now I felt tired and exhausted, I couldn't move…or stand...I just wanted…to…sleep…

When I opened my eyes I realised I wasn't in my room…did I sleep in Nears room? I tried to sit up before realising Near was laying on me, his head rested on my chest. I see he decided to lie down…

As much as I wanted to, I couldn't stay here. I slowly moved to the side so Nears head could quickly rest on the bed. When I leaned to get off the bed, it made a loud creak, making me swiftly hop off. I turned around to make sure Near didn't wake up.

awww…he looked cute…

I shook my head, trying to get rid of those thoughts. I can't think of him that way…I had something else I needed to concentrate on. I needed Matts help on this. I quietly snuck out of Nears room, hopefully everyone else was asleep as well, so no one would notice me coming from Nears room. I guess I wasn't hoping enough, of course Matt was awake he slept for long enough yesterday.

"Hey Mello, what were you doing in Nears room, did you 'sleepover'?" Matt spoke loudly as he walked over towards me.

"Shhh Matt! What's wrong with you, people are sleeping! And no, it's not like that…" I kept waving my hands everywhere, in a way of trying to tell him off. While also trying to keep my voice and yell at him at the same time. Obviously it wasn't working so well.

Matt had stopped walking and stood with a confused expression on his face. "Dude, it's like 2 in the afternoon…"

"Oh…well, umm… let's move away from Nears room. I need to discuss something with you." I turned Matt around and pushed him back down the hall until we reached our room.

Matt sat on the bed while I closed the door. "Okay so what's there to discuss?"

I turned around and leaned on the door, I wasn't sure what he was going to think about this.

"…I have a plan..."


	3. Last Plan

A month had gone past and I hadn't seen much of Near or even Matt. I spent the days in my room working on the plan. Matt did agree to help, but only on one condition, I had to beat him in Tekken. This was a challenge I was willing to take…at the time, but now I think of it, I should have agreed on something else. I couldn't beat Matt, I had tried so many times, the plan was being delayed by days.

After a week of researching and memorizing moves, it was time to verse him again, this time I chose my character wisely, and made the 10 combo move, but then again, how could I think of even challenging Matt, he knew everything about his games. After that week of endless frustration I decided to take another approach, once Matt was out for lunch I found most of his game memory cards and then threatened to crush them one by one if he didn't help. This time Matt didn't hesitate to help, since the burning puzzle incident Matt has taken my words more seriously than before.

Once Matt was in on the plan too, I thought it would go smoothly but it didn't. We tried to find that one puzzle that Near would love me so much for, but couldn't find it anywhere. We went to shops, searched on ebay, even after Matt hacked some websites, apparently that puzzle was limited edition.

Every step closer made it harder.

I had to change a bit of the plan, I asked Matt to hack into a website to send me the largest, blank puzzle he could find. 100,000 pieces…this was going to be a lot of work. I had 3 months until it had to be ready.

Matt didn't let me spend all my days inside our room, sometimes he took me to hang out with Near. Near and I sometimes ate in the cafeteria together, we spoke a little more, but not as much as on that night. Other orphans weren't sure what was going on, they thought maybe near was forced to hang out with us or that this was our punishment.

I could still see that sadness in Nears eyes, I couldn't stand to feel that guilt. Matt didn't realise any of this, he thought it was quite normal for Near to act the way he was, he didn't know Near as well as I did.

I still wasn't eating chocolate. Matt was back onto his games and cigarettes, I just couldn't. It was for the plan. I didn't crave it as much as I used to, because this plan meant everything, not just to me but to Near, and I wasn't going to let him down.

2 Months went passed. Matt and I had a few fights, because of the plan. I think Matt missed how I used to be, I had been so busy I forgot about everything else. I think Near had missed me too, this was the hardest part of the plan. They couldn't understand how I felt.

During this time I didn't eat or sleep much, sometimes I told Matt to leave the room for hours, it was too distracting with him there. This only made things worse than they were. I had fainted a few times while working, caused by the lack of energy in my body. I guess I had to eat at least those 3 main meals if I wanted to finish the plan.

Our room was getting messier every day, even though our room was usually a mess, it was 5 times worse. Matt occasionally tried cleaning up, once again he was frustrated with me.

I was down to the last month. Most of the plan was complete, I just needed to add a few extra details. I began hanging out with Matt and Near a little more. My birthday had passed, we went out for dinner, as a treat they took me to a chocolate restaurant. It was the best birthday I had, not just because we went to a chocolate restaurant, but I also got to share it with Matt and Near. They went to all this trouble for me, while I had isolated myself from them.

As Christmas Eve drew close, the plan was about to come into full action.


	4. Christmas

**So sorry it's been so long since I was on here. Just been busy with school and such, going into year 12 next year and gotta be ready. But please, Enjoy!**

It was Christmas day. I had just woken up, once my eyes had focused I found the room completely clean and there was no trace of Matt. After a while, I finally found the strength to get myself out of bed, I was exhausted from finishing up part of the plan last night. I had a long, warm shower and quickly got dressed, it was going to be a busy day. As I was leaving the room, Near was walking towards me wearing a slight smile on his face and his hands behind his back.

"Good morning Mello, I hope you're feeling better."

"Yeah…I'm feeling a lot better, thanks for making that soup for me the other night, it really helped." Near was a lot more caring towards me now, other orphans had gotten used to us being together so he wasn't afraid to show more emotion.

"That's good to hear, listen, this is for you." He brought his hands to the front, holding a white box neatly wrapped with a black ribbon.

I gently took the box from his soft hands "…Thanks Near." I looked up from the box back to Near, his adorable eyes were eagerly waiting for me to unwrap the gift, my cheeks were hot. I looked back down and began to unravel the delicate ribbon, then slowly lifted off the boxes lid. My mouth dropped.

My eyes stared at the glistening gold plate that had the words "I'm Sorry, I Love You- Near" carved into it.

"Matt told me that the reason you created that fire was because you saw the gold plate in the common room. I-I'm sorry, Mello. I didn't mea-"

I wrapped my arms around Near and held him close. "Why are you apologising Near? You didn't do anything wrong…Thank you, I love your gift...and I-I…"

I let go of Near, for a moment I looked at him, he was trying to keep the big grin to a minimum but it was obvious it wasn't going to work. As much as I wanted to say it, I couldn't do it now, I needed to go downstairs and get things ready.

"…I have to go now. I'll see you later okay?"

The smile had vanished from his face and he looked down to the ground.

"Oh…Okay"

I guess he wanted to know I loved him just as he did to me. I'll get the chance to tell him later.

Near pulled my arm back as I started walking away. "Wait, what are you doing later?"

"I-I'm busy, sorry, bye." I nudged nears hand off my arm and walked away quickly before he could say anything else.

Once I got downstairs, some of the decorations were already set up.

"Hey, Mello!"

I turned my head to where the call was from, Matt was walking towards me, his face was full of sparkles. Before I could comment on the sparkles he gave me a big, squeezy hug.

"Merry Christmas man!"

"Yeah, Merry Christmas, uhh…how long have you been down here?" I tried to dust of the sparkles that had fallen onto me.

"Around 2 hours, hey, I'm sorry I haven't gotten you anything for Christmas…I wasn't sure what to get"

"It's okay, thanks for helping set up" I began getting other decorations set up and started rearranging the furniture, we had a few hours before it need to be finished.

After a while I noticed something was missing.

"Shit! Where is it?" I was beginning to stress out, I need that, I worked so hard on it.

"Matt! where is it!" I grasped onto Matts shoulders and shook him.

"Mello, calm down, I wrapped everything up for you, it's all over there" He pointed to where the left corner of the room, where the Christmas tree was.

"Oh…thanks, again." I released my grasped and let out a sigh. It was time.

I walked to the bottom stair and looked around the room making sure everything was right. There were the musicians on the right, including a pianist and three violinists, the dinner table close by, a large area as a dance floor, the Christmas tree and presents on the left and star lights dangling from the ceiling. I now stood in the middle of the room, admiring what Matt and I had created.

Before I could do anything else, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, no one else was supposed to know about this part of the building except Matt and I, when we were in trouble when we were younger, this was our hideout. I turned around and looked up the stairs to see who was coming down the stairs.

"Near!" I sprinted up a couple of steps to try and block his view of the room but it was too late.

"…Wh-what's going on down here?"

I began getting nervous, I felt butterflies in my stomach. "I…uhh…we were just…um…this is for you…"

"You did all of this for me?" Nears cheeks turned a slight rosy pink.

"Well, Yeah Matt and I did it, this is my way of apologising for that whole fire incident, and everything before that. I'm truly sorry Near."

I made my way back downstairs, Near followed down, excitingly looking around the room.

"Wow…this is incredible." Near wore a huge grin on his face, I couldn't help to smile either. Matt stood against the wall, giving me a thumbs up before he snuck up the stairs.

"That's not all Near, look over there." I pointed to the giant Christmas tree, with the pile of boxes all around it.

"W-what's that?" I watched Near as he walked towards all the boxes.

"I used all my chocolate money to buy every single puzzle I burnt…except one..." I followed Near to the Christmas tree.

"My favourite one…" His tone had changed again, he wasn't excited anymore.

I snuck around the tree for a second, and brought out a black box with a white ribbon wrapped around it.

"I may not have been able to buy it, but I made it myself." As proud as I was for it, I didn't want to seem too cocky. I handed over the gift to Near, his hands carefully took a hold of the box.

"You…made it?" I wasn't sure if he was happy about it, or if he was sad, maybe it wouldn't turn out how he wanted it. I was beginning to get worried, what if he didn't think it was good?

He began to unravel the ribbon, he lifted the boxes lid. His mouth dropped. Now I knew what I looked like earlier today.

"Oh…my..." Is all that managed to come from Nears mouth.

"Well…does it look okay? Do you like it?" Is what managed to come from my mouth.

Near gently put the box down and quickly wrapped his arms around me.

"It's perfect! I love it!" I felt so much relief and wrapped my arms around Nears waist. My chin rested against his head and I closed my eyes. It felt nice hugging Near without any tension between us.

"How did you make it?" Nears arms wrapped around tighter.

"I bought a blank puzzle set, and painted it from what I remembered, it's probably not exactly the same but I couldn't remember every detail"

I lifted my chin of Near, stretched my arms out while still holding his waist. This way I could still hold him but also talk to his face.

"No, you didn't get all the details….but I think it's even better than the old one."

He looked up at me with his wide eyes and gave me a gentle smile. It felt natural to return one too.

"Thanks Near…Oh, right! Matt cooked dinner for us."

"Matt can cook?"

"Yeah, cooking mama helped him." I removed my hands off Nears waist and held his hand, we walked over to the dinner table. This time we were going to eat an actual meal, I had been eating proper meals since I couldn't eat chocolate. There was mashed potato, steak and…broccoli? Why did Matt cook broccoli…I hate broccoli. I had to keep calm, I'd get Matt later.

Matt came back down the stairs to check how our plan was going, he walked over to the musicians and instructed them to start playing. The musicians began to play beautiful music while I pulled out Nears chair for him and pushed it forward once he sat down.

I began a conversation while we ate, asking Near how he knew I was down here.

"Well, around lunch time Matt came up those stairs while playing his ds and I asked him what was down here and he said all of Mello's hard work…"

"Oh..." I gave a slight smile, and continued to eat.

We kept chatting while we ate dinner. Near only had a small serve but ate everything without a complaint. The meal was great except for that stupid broccoli, I was struggling to swallow it down but I didn't want Near to think I was fussy.

After we finished the meal, Matt brought out dessert, we each had three scoops of ice cream placed in a row with chocolate sauce spread across, with two wafers on the each end ice cream. I didn't give Matt as much credit he deserved, it looked amazing. By the time I was finished Near was only on his second ice cream and couldn't finish it, so I had to eat some of his too. Matt finished his part so he went upstairs.

We relaxed for a bit, then I stood up and walked over to Near. I gave out my hand and asked him if he would like to dance, those butterflies in my stomach were flying around crazy right now. Nears cheeks turned red as he delicately placed his hand on mine without saying a word. I pulled him out of his chair and walked over to the dance floor.

I placed my other hand on Nears hip while he lifted his other hand onto my shoulder. I had practised my dancing beforehand so I would look like an expert, but Near dragged his feet along.

"Umm...I'm sorry, I don't know how to dance…" Near avoided eye contact and his cheeks looked as red as cherries. I could sense a slight bit of embarrassment, it was adorable.

"That's okay, I'll teach you." I couldn't help but to give Near a big smile, I tugged on his hands at certain times to lead him. He looked down at my feet, trying to follow them. After a while, he got the hung of it, so did I and it seemed to be natural now, figuring which way to turn and where to step.

We danced for a long time, I didn't realise until I looked at the clock on the wall. We spent an hour and a half of dancing. It started off as an excuse to hold Near close to me, but I think I actually enjoy this dancing.

"Near, you do know that I am truly sorry, and I will never do anything else again to hurt you." I stopped swaying, Near lowered his arm off my shoulder and held onto my other hand.

"I know Mello, you don't have to keep saying it…I know." Near gave me another kind smile

"I'm also going to promise you that I'll always be by your side, no matter who or what gets in the way…because I…I love you."

That was one of the hardest things for me to say, I had never actually said it in my life. Not to my parents, not to anyone.

After I said it this urge came over me, I leaned towards Near, my eyes were set on his lips, his eyes were set on mine. I closed my eyes and felt my lips lock onto his, we let the kiss linger for a few moments before parting.

Later that night while I lay in my bed, I thought of everything that happened throughout the day. Matt told me he was sorry he didn't get me anything for Christmas, but he had done more than enough to help me build my relationship with Near. Matt has no idea how much he's really done for me, I had already told him that I needed to repay him somehow.

He told me he had a plan…


	5. Repay

I could hear that crowd of people giggling. I couldn't estimate how many people were in the room.

"Mello, come on out." Matt was snickering while he spoke, trying not to burst out laughing.

"No way! I'm not coming out like this!" I was hiding behind a small wall, the only exit was surrounded by people.

_Why did I agree to this?_

"You have to, you said you would repay me." His voice was playful, he knew eventually I had to come out. Might as well do it now.

I walked out from behind the wall, I felt my cheeks go red hot. This is probably the most embarrassing thing in my life. All I could hear now was the burst of laughter filling the room, I think some people had cameras as well.

Why are they laughing? Well, Matt made me dress up as one of the characters from his video games. As I recall it was Lynette from Soul Calibur. Her outfit was similar to that of a maid, it consisted of a short blue dress, covered with a white apron, with long white socks and a headband.

"Okay! I did what you wanted, let me leave now." I felt so awkward, why did he choose a character with a dress as short as this.

"No way! Can you please spin around so we can look at the outfit?" It was hard to make out what he was even saying because he was laughing, so much that he was crying.

"That wasn't in the deal! I'm leaving now!" I stomped all the way to the door, pushing through the crowd. As I opened the door Near was standing there, his eyes widened more than usual.

"Near! Uhhh…"

_oh my god I want to die…._

"M-Mello? What are you…doing?" Near looked so shocked, his body didn't moved, he stood there in the door way, staring at me.

"It's Matts fault! H-he-"

"…" Near had mumbled something that I couldn't hear.

"What?"

Near leant in, whisper in my ear.

"You look hot..." When he moved his head away again, his cheeks were a deep red, embarrassed by saying that himself. It was quite adorable.

I felt my own cheeks go hot to, the two of us probably looked so weird standing in the doorway, blushing up to our ears. So then I dragged Near all the way to his own room where I spent the night. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to dress up. If Near likes it so much, I might just do it again.


End file.
